Wonderful news for Louvin Brothers fans, country music historians, or anyone who loves the simple but delightful music that Charlie and Ira Louvin recorded in the ’50s and ’60s.
Sundazed and Modern Harmonic have released Louvin Brothers – Love And Wealth: The Lost Recordings, a box set featuring 30 previously-unreleased demos cut by the brothers for Acuff-Rose, their publishing company. These are not polished, commercial recordings but the simple songwriter demos they had produced to help the publisher sell their songs to other artists.
Available as either a double LP or CD set, the project comes with extensive liner notes and many evocative photos of the boys from the Country Music Hall of Fame archives.
Some of the songs represented in these demos had been recorded by other country artists, but many others have never been heard by anyone outside of Acuff-Rose and people associated with the firm.
Each track features Ira on mandolin and Charlie on guitar, running through the songs in a straightforward manner in their trademark brother duet harmony. According to the liner notes, they simply cut these demos as new songs were written, and didn’t even copyright them until interest was shown by other performers. Many, therefore, just languished on the shelf during the intervening years.
They were discovered recently by Sundazed founder Bob Irwin, along with hundreds of other tape reels which are part of the Masters International catalog now owned by Sony. It’s literally a needle-in-a-haystack story that has saved these vital recordings from obscurity, or destruction!
Songs on the project include:
Spoken Message from Ira Louvin
It’s All Off
Take My Ring from Your Finger
I’ll Never Go Back (To the Ways of Sin)
Are You Missing Me?
Coo, Coo, Coo
Streamline Heartbreaker
(I’m Changing the Words To) My Love Song
Red Hen Boogie
Unpucker
Television Set
Discontented Cowboy
Two-Faced Heart
Don’t Compare The Future With The Past
That’s My Heart Talking
I’m Gonna Love You One More Time
Preach the Gospel
Born Again
They’ve Got the Church Outnumbered
The Sons and Daughters of God
Insured beyond the Grave
You’ll Meet Him in the Clouds
I Love God’s Way of Living
Love and Wealth
Bald Knob, Arkansas
Measured Love
Kiss Me Like You Did Yesterday
Would You Tear Down Your Castle
You’ll Forget
Never Say Goodbye
The album is available for sale now from all the popular download sites, and on LP or CD from Modern Harmonic.
I’m sure by now the fruitcake is on the table and you have a bookmark on Luke 2, but if you need a little bluegrass to get you in the Christmas spirit, here are some Christmas classics that are sure to get any Scrooge in the holiday spirit!
1. Christmas Time’s A-Comin’ – Bill Monroe
A true standard from The Father Of Bluegrass, even non-bluegrassers are familiar with this old standard. I find myself humming this one even in the summer. I’m sure you will too.
2. It’s Christmas Time – Larry Sparks
Larry Sparks and Christmas: Could it get any better!? The “Ray Charles Of Bluegrass” pumps this song full of soul. This song demands your attention. Everyone will have to stop opening their gifts so you can enjoy the “Youngest of The Old Timers.”
3. It’s Christmas Time – The Louvin Brothers
Despite having the same title, this is not the same as the Larry Sparks song mentioned above. Charlie and Ira’s harmonies have never sounded better. Although they’re not bluegrass, I know most of you grew up listening to their classic brother harmony.
4. Bluegrass, White Snow – Patty Loveless
The title track from Patty’s Christmas album, this song also features American music icons Dolly Parton and Ricky Skaggs. “Bluegrass, white snow, memories, and an old banjo.” Isn’t that what we all want for Christmas?
5. Old-Fashioned Christmas – Jimmy Martin
Co-written by Paul Williams, the King Of Bluegrass shares his favorite memories from Christmases of yesteryear. You’ll feel like you’re spending Christmas in the Martin home!
6. I Feel The Christmas Spirit – The Isaacs
The Isaacs always present family harmonies at their finest. This catchy original Christmas song is one of my favorites, and it’s guaranteed to have you singing along by the chorus.
7. Christmas Is Near – The Stanley Brothers
A bon-a-fide bluegrass classic, Ralph and Carter take you back to Christmas in the mountains. Pat your foot right along with the Christmas memories and the timeless sound of The Stanley Brothers.
8. Christmas Time At Home – Rhonda Vincent
This has become a modern day classic from the Queen of Bluegrass. The chorus has been stuck in my head for the past month! There’s nothing like “popcorn strings and handmade things” to fill you with holiday cheer!
9. Merry Christmas From Our House To Yours – Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Doyle learned this one from Buck Owens & The Buckaroos, and thank goodness he did! The vocal power of Quicksilver is unequaled, and this is a prime example of that. Besides, how cool is it to be wished a Merry Christmas from Doyle Lawson!?
10. The Night Before Christmas – Mike Snider
This is not the same holiday classic you remember from your childhood. Mike Snider does his own unique spin on this Christmas tale, and it will leave you in stitches! Who else would have Santa Claus buying presents at Walmart and picking his nose!?
11. Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem – Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys
Keith Whitley is up front on this Christmas classic. It has been recorded many other times by such greats as Emmylou Harris, John Starling, and more, but Keith’s rendition takes the cake. This is one of everyone’s favorites and reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas.
12. The Christmas Guest – Grandpa Jones
“Everybody’s Favorite Grandpa” shares the classic tale of Conrad and his Christmas guests. If you have never heard Grandpa’s version, make sure you do. I’ve been listening to this every Christmas since I can remember, and I’m always touched hearing about the best Christmas gift: love.
Hopefully, you’ll enjoy listening to these Christmas classics. Merry Christmas!
Valerie Smith also has a special Christmas release, a lovely cover of The Louvin Brothers’ Shut In At Christmas, also know as Shut In Prayer.
This one really tugs at the heartstrings, as it tells a story of being unable to get out during the Christmas season while there is so much joyous activity “out there” in the world.
Using a simple arrangement, much as The Louvins did, Valerie conveys this timeless message of charity and kindness without ostentation. It is especially powerful when you consider the time in which it was written (1950s), when being homebound didn’t offer the ease of communication and diversion that it does today.
Still, after listening, you may find yourself planning a visit or making a call to family and friends who may miss out on next week’s holiday cheer.
Shut In At Christmas is available for download purchase from Smith’s web site, and in iTunes.
Charlie Louvin —Still Rattlin’ The Devil’s Cage is the title of a new documentary film released in December 2011. A part of the legendary Louvin Brothers duet with his brother Ira, Charlie lost his battle with cancer last year, but not before the interviews and stage footage of his last performance were captured during the shooting for this film.
The Louvin Brothers began as pure Gospel performers, releasing several albums for Capitol Records before becoming members of the Grand Old Opry and incorporating secular songs into their performances. Known for their harmony, and guitar and mandolin accompaniment, the duet split over Ira’s lifestyle, primarily his heavy drinking.
Both recorded as solo artists, although Ira died young in an automobile accident in 1965. Charlie continued to record and perform, including regular appearances on the Grand Old Opry, until his death. Hearkening back to a time when country and bluegrass music were immediate family members instead of distant relatives, the Louvins’ music has provided a great source of material for modern bluegrass artists.
The documentary, which took nearly a year to complete, features interviews and performance footage of Charlie, as well as appearances by artists influenced by Charlie and the Louvin Brothers, including George Jones, Emmylou Harris, Marty Stuart, and Alison Krauss, among others. A limited number of copies of the documentary are available for purchase on DVD, with all proceeds going directly to Mrs. Louvin.
Charlie Louvin RIP: July 7, 1927 – January 26, 2011
Charlie Louvin, a star of the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years, died early on Wednesday morning (1/26) at his home in Wartrace, about 50 miles southeast of Nashville, Tennessee. He was 83 years old and had suffered from pancreatic cancer for about six months.
Charles Elzer Louvin (or Loudermilk to give him his proper family name) was born in Section, Alabama, one of seven children who grew up on the family’s 23-acre farm in Sand Mountain.
Along with his older brother Ira (born April 21, 1924), Charlie Louvin is an icon in the world of traditional country and bluegrass music. They are much revered by the rock-‘n’-roll music fraternity also.
Ira got a mandolin when he was 19 and urged the then 16-year-old Charlie to learn to play the guitar so they could play music together. Charlie and Ira worked in the fields on the family farm and began singing together as teenagers, developing the harmony that would become their trademark.
As they were growing they sang in church also.
The brothers adopted the name Louvin Brothers in the 1940s as they began their career and later they made it legal.
Later they worked on radio stations in Knoxville and Memphis in the 1940s, and signed their first record deal with Apollo in 1947. Later, in 1949, they released a single on the Decca Records label and in 1951 and 1952 they recorded 12 sides for MGM, including I’m Changing the Words to My Love Song, The Get Acquainted Waltz, God Bless Her (‘Cause She’s My Mother), Weapon of Prayer, Robe of White, The Great Atomic Power, Insured Beyond The Grave, The Gospel Way and The Sons and Daughters of God, all written by the brothers.
At the end of 1952 the Louvin Brothers signed for Capitol Records, singing and recording sacred songs initially. To be fair, their later MGM recordings had been of Gospel material also.
During the next three years they recorded classics such as The Family Who Prays (Never Shall Part), Born Again, Let Us Travel, Travel On, If We Forget God, From Mother’s Arms to Korea, Make Him A Soldier, Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself and Just Rehearsing.
In 1955, they decided to try their luck with a secular song they had written, When I Stop Dreaming. It became their first Top 10 hit, thanks to their harmonies that used unconventional intervals drawn from the shape-note tradition and poetically bittersweet lyrics of a broken love affair. That was followed quickly by their only No. 1 single, I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby.
From 1955 through 1962, the Louvin Brothers had a dozen hits on the Billboard country chart, including You’re Running Wild, Cash on the Barrelhead, Don’t Laugh, My Baby’s Gone, Must You Throw Dirt in My Face, How’s The World Treating You? and Knoxville Girl.
Their legacy includes other great recordings of songs such as The Angels Rejoiced Last Night, Satan Is Real, Lord, I’m Coming Home, Praying, Are You Washed In The Blood Of The Lamb?, The Christian Life, What Is Home without Love?, Are You Teasing Me?, A Tiny Broken Heart, Hoping That You’re Hoping, Satan’s Jeweled Crown, Pitfall, The River of Jordan, Are You Afraid To Die?, and My Curly Headed Baby.
The Louvins’ popularity waned in the early 1960s and personality differences caused the brothers to split in 1963. Charlie Louvin went on to work as a solo act (as did Ira until he was killed in a car crash in June 1965). His biggest hits were I Don’t Love You Anymore (No. 4 in 1964) and See the Big Man Cry (No. 7 in 1965). In all, he had 30 Billboard-charting singles from 1964 to 1989, some of those, including Something to Brag About, with Melba Montgomery, one with Emmylou Harris, one with Jim & Jesse and one with Roy Acuff, whose songs are well-featured in the Louvin’s recording catalogue.
Thereafter Charlie Louvin recorded regularly- a studio album (for Copper Creek) and a live set, recorded in Holland, with Charles Whitstein; Bluegrass Style (Niptune NPBCD 029 (1994)); a 10-track set for Pete Drake’s First Generation Records that includes some re-makes of titles from Louvin’s Capitol era; a handful for the Tompkins Square label – including Steps to Heaven, a collection of traditional gospel tunes, released in September 2008, followed about two months later by the tragedy-themed Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs.
Two albums were released in 2010: The Battles Rage On (True North), produced by Mitchell Brown and featuring songs about war and redemption, and Hickory Wind (Tompkins Square), a live set recorded at City Auditorium in Waycross, Georgia, in 2009. The Battle Rages On, a collection of war songs, which includes the talents of special guests Del McCoury and Jamie Dailey and was released last November.
Louvin helped keep the duo’s memory alive throughout the rest of his career, often incorporating Louvin Brothers material with his own. In 1992, Louvin paired with Charles Whitstein for the Louvin Brothers Music Celebration tour. The duo visited Europe with Whitstein on at least four occasions.
The Louvin Brothers’ sound, with Ira’s pure high tenor typically floating atop Charlie’s strong tenor-baritone melodies but often switching mid-song, derived from church-based ‘shape-note’ singing, an a cappella style they picked up while growing up in their musically inclined family in rural Alabama.
In so doing the brothers modernized the close-harmony singing of Depression-era acts like the Blue Sky Boys, the Delmore Brothers (for whom they did a tribute album) and the Callahan Brothers and, later, the Monroe Brothers, and influenced the keening vocal interplay of the Everly Brothers.
Their harmonies sat very comfortably alongside that of bluegrass music and bluegrass musicians adapted and rearranged many of their songs that became bluegrass standards.
Jim & Jesse recorded 10 of the Louvin Brothers’ songs for a tribute album, Saluting the Louvin Brothers (Epic BN-26465, 1969). They also recorded with Charlie Louvin for an album on the Soundwaves label (SWS-3308, 1982).
Other bluegrass artists who have recorded songs from the Louvin Brothers’ repertoire include Joe Val & The New England Bluegrass Boys (You’re Running Wild), Nashville Bluegrass Band (Are You Afraid to Die?) and Del McCoury & The Dixie Pals (When I Stop Dreaming). Alison Krauss cut a near-definitive version of I Don’t believe You’ve Met My Baby, which was included in her 1995 Now That I’ve Found You collection. The Krauss track was originally released on Jerry Douglas’ Slide Rule album in 1992.
The Whitstein Brothers (Robert and Charles), for whom the Louvin Brothers were heroes, recorded 10 of the Louvins’ songs for their debut album, Sing Gospel Songs of the Louvins (re-issued by Rounder Records) and did others for subsequent releases.
The Louvin Brothers’ influence spread well beyond the standard country music field, being embraced by Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons, who, in turn, influenced a young Emmylou Harris, whose recording of If I Could Only Win Your Love gave Harris her first Top 10 country hit. Harris recorded When I Stop Dreaming and Every Time You Leave also.
The Parsons/Hillman axis was responsible for the Byrds recording The Christian Life for the Sweethearts of the Rodeo album. Parsons, accompanied by Harris, included a live version of Cash on the Barrelhead in a medley on his Grievous Angel album. Harris was one of the Louvins’ most passionate advocates; with the younger Louvin brother she had a minor chart record in 1979 with the duet Love Don’t Care.
Others who have lauded the music of the Louvin Brothers include the Raconteurs, who recorded The Christian Life, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner and Elvis Costello. Tweedy’s alt-country band Uncle Tupelo recorded The Great Atomic Power and the Notting Hillbillies recorded Weapon of Prayer (both in the 1990s) and, very recently, roots rocker Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters recorded Knoxville Girl, a folk song that the brothers helped to popularize.
The British rock/pop group the Beatles were influenced by Charlie and Ira through the Everly Brothers. It is ironic that the Louvin Brothers had to contend with the overwhelming rise to prominence of rock ‘n’ roll music yet artists from that genre now love Charlie and Ira Louvin so much.
Louvin’s presence in the contemporary rock world was confirmed when he was invited to be an opening act for Cake’s Unlimited Sunshine tour in 2003.
Charlie Louvin’s wonderful, warm, light-baritone voice may be silent, but he will be remembered and his music will live forever in the hearts of music enthusiasts of many persuasions.
Honors
1979, The Louvin Brothers were inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
1991, The Louvin Brothers were inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
1992, The Louvin Brothers were honored with an IBMA Certificate of Merit for their lifetime contributions to bluegrass music.
2001, The Louvin Brothers were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
They have won 2 Grammies, received the ‘Living Legend’ award from the Major Independent Record Labels and have received more than 12 BMI performance awards.
Selective Discography:
Louvin Brothers
Close Harmony (Bear Family), an 8-CD set with booklet, presents all of the brothers’ recordings
Songs That Tell a Story (Rounder)
Nearer My God to Thee (King)
Charlie Louvin – Greatest Hits (Collector’s Choice Music)
Tribute albums
Livin’, Lovin’ Losin’: Songs of the Louvin Brothers (Universal South), a musical tribute to the Louvin Brothers (featuring James Taylor, Vince Gill, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Dierks Bentley and Joe Nichols). The album won two Grammy Awards, for Best Country Album and Best Country Collaboration (2004).
Whitstein Brothers Sing Gospel Songs of the Louvins (The Whitstein Brothers) (Rounder) (originally released independently in 1969 and re-released by Rounder in 1994)
Songs of the Louvin Brothers (Easy Disc), with Joe Val, Hazel Dickens/The Johnson Mountain Boys, Del McCoury, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Ricky Skaggs/Peter Rowan, the Dreadful Snakes, Jim & Jesse and Longview.
The story is a nice length and includes a lot of first hand comments directly from Charlie. The history of the brother duo is told, along with a couple interesting childhood stories.
Here’s one of my favorite quotes concerning how the pair learned to sing harmony.
He tells about learning shape-note singing at the local Baptist church — and none of these simple, childlike songs they sing nowadays, written so as not to traumatize five-year-old girls, but creepy close harmony tunes like “Are you Washed in the Blood?” and “Sinner, You’d Better Get Ready.”
I’ve never heard Washed In The Blood referred to as “creepy” before, but that line definitely made me laugh.
Who knew Ira had such a temper?!
If a mandolin string worked itself out of tune Ira would smash the instrument to pieces on stage and stomp on the pieces.
I’d like to attend a bluegrass show and see some of that attitude. It would sure liven up the stage performance and make it entertaining!
